The Amusement Park

by Ster Julie

Codes: Spock ,Sarek/Amanda

Rating: G

Part 1 of 1

Summary: Spock's childhood amusement park experiences as hinted at in "Shoreleave"

A/N: I based this story on my own experiences of the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, CA. The peafowl make an appearance from my years of teaching near the Los Angeles County Botanical Gardens in Arcadia, CA where the large, decorative birds were allowed by law to roam the streets at will--"and brother, do they have a lot of will!" The sheep is based on my sister's Chihuahuas who can have whole conversations with us with just the barest change of expressions.

For T'Sia, because she asked so very nicely.

--ooOoo--

"The term is amusement park … An old Earth name for a place where people could go to see and do all sorts of fascinating things."

Young Spock stood skeptically at the entrance of the amusement park. His mother Amanda had promised him a special trip after he had passed his kahs-wan since most of his free time for the prior two years had been earmarked for survival training. "You need a fun experience after, well after all you went through in the desert," she had explained to the young boy.

Amanda hadn't meant to bring up the tragic events of that night in the desert when Ee-Chaya sacrificed his life to save his young master. Spock hadn't moved a muscle, but the young mother had sensed a dark pall falling across her little son's features.

"There is a large crowd today, Spock," Amanda warned, "so I want you to keep very close to me. If you don't want to hold my hand then at least hold onto my skirt."

Spock obediently put his small hand into hers and waited for the next instruction. The boisterous crowd with all their unpleasant odors and ill-mannered children seemed threatening to the Vulcan boy. He would do his best to stay at her side.

"Look, Spock!" Amanda exclaimed as they finally passed through the gates, "a carousel! Would you like to ride it?"

Spock examined the garishly painted beasts impaled with metal stakes bobbing in a circle around the central post. Squealing children sat stride the faux animals.

"What is the purpose of rides that go nowhere?" he asked Amanda seriously.

Amanda rolled her eyes. I should have waited until Sarek could join us! she thought.

Spock pronounced similar judgments on the carnival foods that did not nourish, the inane games and the cheap toy prizes. It wasn't until the pair arrived at the tamer displays of the Rose Pavilion and the Gem and Mineral Show that Spock stopped seeming so dour. He observed the various demonstration gardens with polite interest and impressed the adults with his ability to identify many of the flora. Spock had learned so much about plants while helping his mother set up something similar back home on Vulcan when he was so very small.

Sarek joined his family at the Gem and Mineral Show. Spock handled as many of the rock samples as he was permitted. He had specimens of his own from all over the galaxy, but never had he seen such a vast collection in one large, glittering display. Spock decided to spend a few credits and buy one new rock. He looked over the precious and semi-precious stones then went on to the various ores and minerals. His eyes fell on one unusual stone. He read the display information.

Bornite is a sulfide mineral with chemical composition Cu₅FeS₄ that crystallizes in the orthorhombic system. It has a brown to copper-red color on fresh surfaces that tarnishes to various iridescent shades of blue to purple in places. Its striking iridescence gives it the nickname peacock copper or peacock ore. (Wikipedia)

Spock had read about peacocks, but he had never seen one with his own eyes. After learning that there was a family of peafowl purportedly roaming about the crowd, Spock decided to buy the stone so that he might compare it to the bird for which it was named.

Amanda spotted the birds first. The male had already lost the plumage in his exotic tail, but there were plenty of iridescence in the short feathers of his body and wings. Sure enough, Spock saw a similarity in the colors of his rock and the feathers of the peacock. The stone had passed muster and Spock declared its common name to be a logical one.

Spock had perked up at seeing the peacock, but Sarek and Amanda both noticed that, while curious, he was not as ebullient as usual when pursuing new scientific curiosities. "Perhaps surrounding him with more animals will help," Amanda suggested, pointing to the nearby petting zoo.

At first Spock stayed outside the fence, observing the animals and the way they interacted with the other children. Amanda pressed a small sack of food pellets into her son's hand.

"Go feed the animals, Spock," she encouraged.

Spock stepped cautiously into the pen, not because he was afraid but because he did not want to be toppled over into the droppings by the hungry animals. Soon he was mobbed by four gangly goats and a pair of geese. They tore the packet from his hand and wolfed the majority of the pellets.

Spock noted another animal standing nearby, a very pregnant ewe, a Painted Desert sheep according to the sign. Her winter coat was still clinging in tatters to her neck and back Spock was drawn to her calmness. As he fed her the remaining food pellets, he sensed a basic presence about her and wondered what touching her mind would be like.

Spock locked eyes with the ewe. He sensed her presence speak in his mind. Touch.

Carrying? He asked the sheep as he sensed the twin lambs she bore.

Babies, the ewe transmitted.

Spock fingered the clumps of wool hanging from her back. Shedding painful? He thought to her in images.

Relief. Assist? she asked.

Willing, Spock replied. He scratched and massaged the neck and back of the ewe and helped relieve her of her heavy winter coat.

Spock sensed the ewe gently probing his mind in her rudimentary way. Sadness?

Spock realized that the ewe had tapped into his grief over the loss of Ee'Chaya. Great loss. He admitted. My fault.

Explain?

Spock took a shaky breath. Disobeyed. Caused death.

The ewe delicately probed Spock's memories further. Protect?

Yes, Spock admitted.

Duty, she declared.

Such loss! Spock wailed mentally.

Learn? the ewe asked gently.

Oh, yes, Spock replied.

Good, the ewe pronounced. No tears.

When Spock separated his mind from the ewe he found himself weeping on the neck of the animal. Tufts of the sheep's wool adhered to his clothes and were grasped in his little fists. Sarek and Amanda swept into the pen to rescue their son, thinking him hurt. Spock clung to his father and wept bitterly as Sarek carried him out of the corral.

Amanda was afraid that Sarek would reprimand Spock for his outburst, but she needn't have. Sarek proved himself the good father she knew him to be when he simply held his son close to his chest and allowed the little boy to finally express his grief over the loss of his beloved pet, to finally make amends with himself for the loss of Ee-Chaya. Sarek knew that this was the beginning of healing for little Spock.

Amanda wanted to end on a happy note. On the way out of the petting zoo area, she spotted the Giant Slide. Before she could even suggest it, Sarek had purchased three tickets and they began the climb to the top.

Spock raised his head from his perch on Sarek's shoulder. The steps reminded the boy of the climb up Mount Selaya, but the sacred place was never as garishly colorful as this … object.

Amanda took three cloths from the attendant and handed one each to her men. Spock was unsure what to do so he clung to his mother's skirt. Amanda bent and whispered into Spock's ear. He nodded enthusiastically in response.

"Race you to the bottom!" Amanda called to Sarek as she spread her cloth at the top of one lane, sat on it and pulled Spock into her lap before plunging over the side.

Amanda and Spock were a quarter way down the slide before Sarek even knew what had happened. He observed his wife holding Spock firmly in her lap as the boy held his arms out like a soaring bird. Several seconds after they came to a stop, Sarek pulled up to his family in as dignified a manner as a person sitting on a burlap sack could be.

"Let's do that again!" Spock declared. Amanda and Sarek exchanged glances. Their little boy had returned.

Ever the teacher, Amanda took the time to explain the principals of aerodynamics to her precocious child as Sarek purchased more tickets. Spock observed the rate of decent of his parents and himself. The next time he observed how a change of positions affected their rate of decent. On and on it went until Amanda began to feel queasy. They called the experiment a success after six bumpy trips down the Giant Slide. Sarek could tell by his son's introspection that the boy was not done with these experiments and that some version of a Giant Slide would soon be under construction on Vulcan.

After a rest and a meal of "food of questionable nutritional value," Spock dragged his parents back to the Gem and Mineral Show where he purchased a necklace made of tiny tumbled chips of various semi-precious stones for his mother, then back to the Rose Pavilion where he helped Sarek select new plants to add to Amanda's garden. In Heritage Park, Spock watched with fascination as clumps of wool such as the tufts he had taken from the ewe was carded, spun into yarn, and then fashioned into clothing and other items. Amanda helped her son select a wool hat to keep Sarek's head warm when he was sent to colder planets. Sarek purchased a woven bag for Spock to carry all the treasures he had accumulated on this trip to the amusement park.

Near closing time, Amanda led her family back to the petting zoo, declaring, "You must see this!"

"This" happened to be the nightly herding of the animals from the petting zoo to their sleeping pens. The attendees at the park were invited to form two solid lines from the petting zoo to the corrals. When the line was in place, the gates were opened and the workers clapped, hollered and otherwise encouraged the animals to go to their pens and go to bed.

The gluttonous goats trotted in the lead, followed by the gangly geese and the braying calf. The llamas picked their way daintily and the other animals followed closely, all except the very pregnant ewe. She waddled slowly over to Spock who scratched her behind both ears.

Gratitude.

A worker came and led the sheep to her pen, calling her Mama. Spock raised a brow in response. Looking down at his hands he found even more wool caught in his fingers. He gathered the bits into a wad and placed it into his new bag, along with his peacock ore, the necklace for his mother, the plant samples he had gathered for future study, and other small mementos. Amanda plunked a miniature copy of the hat they had bought for Sarek onto his own head. He raised a hand and fingered the soft wool. He decided that when they returned home he would devise a way to card and spin the tufts of Mama ewe's wool into a least a string that he could incorporate into his new hat.

When Spock could not stifle a tired yawn, Sarek picked his son up and sat him on his own broad shoulders. Amanda snapped a lovely picture of her men backlit by the colorful lights of the massive Ferris wheel. Except for the fact that they were Vulcans, the picture of Sarek looking up to Spock as the boy asked something of him was a classic father-and-son at the amusement park picture. Amanda would treasure it always.

For his part, Spock would always remember his trip to the amusement park, not because of what happened with Mama the sheep, but because it was the day he threw off his cloak of mourning for Ee-Chaya and rediscovered his zest for life.

"What do you think of your trip to the amusement park, Spock?" Amanda asked her son.

Spock's eyes glittered with the reflected lights of the Fun Zone. "The whole place was filled with fascinating things to see and do."

END